Multi-core processors and/or multi-threaded instruction execution pipelines within processing cores have caused software programmers to develop multi-threaded software programs (as opposed to single threaded software programs). Multi-threaded software is naturally complex because of the different processes that concurrently execute. However, multi-threaded software is additionally difficult to debug because of an aspect of “non-determinism” in the manner of its execution. Specifically, a multi-threaded software program may execute differently across two different run-times even if the program starts from an identical input state.
For these reasons “logging” is used to record certain critical junctures in a multi-threaded software program's execution. Processors are presently designed with logging circuits that observe the execution of a processor's software and record certain critical events that the circuits have been designed to detect. If the software program crashes, the log record is analyzed to study the execution of the program leading up to the crash.